One week to go! 50-plus cars confirmed for 2024 24H Dubai

Gearing up for its 19th edition on 26-27-28 January, the 2024 Hankook 24H DUBAI is set to feature a grid of 50-plus cars, former outright winners, reigning and established 24H SERIES powered by Hankook champions, representation from Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG, Lotus and Bentley (among many other notable brands) and even from the world of Formula 1.

 

This year’s Hankook 24H DUBAI is also the final round of, what has so far been, a closely-fought 2023/2024 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy campaign. Organized by CREVENTIC for the second year in a row, the three-round UAE program (with one Kuwait flyaway) has provided 24H SERIES competitors with plenty of endurance racing action during the European off-season, and, as in 2022/2023, is set to feature a grandstand finale, across all classes, during the 26-27-28 January weekend.  

 

GT3

 

Repeat, or first-time winners in 2024?

 

Two former outright winners of the Hankook 24H DUBAI headline a 23-car GT3 class for the 2024 edition.

 

Herberth Motorsport (#91), which won the event outright in 2017, was the overall runner-up in 2023 in the event’s closest finish to-date. Driving the team’s 992-generation Porsche GT3 R, team principals Alfred and Robert Renauer, Ralf Bohn and Daniel Allemann will hope to repeat their 2017 win, seven years on.

 

In a fitting send-off, the 2024 Hankook 24H DUBAI will be Daniel Allemann’s final race.

 

Car Collection Motorsport (#96) will also want to secure a second win in 2024. Interestingly, the 2019 race winner has also confirmed a Porsche 992 GT3 R – which took a top five finish on its series debut in Barcelona last year – for Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall, who make their 24H SERIES returns at the Hankook 6H ABU DHABI. The pair will be joined by Sebastian Gorga and Fuad Sawaya on their maiden series outing in Dubai, and Mark Wallenwein, who makes his third start in Dubai this year in a third different category.

 

Interestingly, two other potential frontrunners in Dubai – Haas RT and Saintéloc Junior Team – both took their first outright wins in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook in 2023. Haas RT, which won the Hankook 12H MUGELLO outright, finished an impressive 5th overall at its first (ever) race in Dubai, and even led the event outright on multiple occasions. The Antiguan team has entered two Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO IIs for the event, the first of which (#21) will be driven by Stanislav Minsky, Thomas Kiefer, Miika Panu (rejoining Haas RT after two rounds in Monza and Barcelona last year), 2023 Hankook 12H ESTORIL winner Torsten Kratz, and team prodigy Mathieu Detry. Series debutant Liang Jiatong has also registered to compete alongside the returning Morris Schuring, and Tim Müller (A6-Am winner in 2018) in a second Haas RT Audi (#20). Notably, Müller is set to compete at the Hankook 24H DUBAI for an eighth time in 2024.

 

Saintéloc Junior Team meanwhile, which took its first outright win at Spa-Francorchamps in 2023, has also entered two Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO IIs for Dubai. The first (#26) will be driven by Wilfried, Mattéo and Thomas Merafina. The second, tellingly, (#18) reunites Michael Doppelmayr, Pierre Kaffer and Elia Erhart – who secured the 24H SERIES’ GT European Trophy with Phoenix Racing in 2022 – with Swen Herberger for their first race with the French team.

 

15 years on from its first participation, Attempto Racing (#99) has also registered an Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II for Dylan Pereira and Andrey Mukovoz (teammates at the last four editions), Alex Arkin Aka, DTM race winner Ricardo Feller (who finished in the overall top six on both of his previous outings in 2018 and 2019) and the debuting Sergey Titarenko. The German team will be looking to secure its first overall podium at the event in 2024.

 

Grove Racing (#10) finished an impressive 4th overall on its event debut last year. The New Zealand outfit, which will once again be supported by the eponymous team of two-time Le Mans winner Earl Bamber, brings Stephen and Brenton Grove to partner Jordan Love, Australian Supercars race winner Matthew Payne, and 2020 GTX class winner Phil Keen in a brand-new Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo following the team’s switch from Porsche.

 

Also running a Mercedes, The Heart of Racing Team (#27) took a GT3-Am class podium at last year’s Hankook 24H DUBAI as well as two further class wins in Mugello and Spa-Francorchamps. The American outfit continues its collaboration with former Dubai class winner SPS automotive performance into 2024, and has confirmed Gray Newell will be joined by Pierre Kleinubing, Daniel Mancinelli, and three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Darren Turner in the UAE.

 

GT3

 

Category newcomers and returnees

 

Notably, the Hankook 24H DUBAI welcomes several strong international GT3 competitors to the 24H SERIES for the first time in 2024.

 

Team Parker Racing (#31) returns Bentley to the 24H SERIES with its Continental GT3, the luxury British marque having last graced a CREVENTIC grid at Spa-Francorchamps in 2022. Team Parker Racing, a multi-time Porsche Carrera Cup UK champion, has confirmed Shaun and Max Lynn, and Joe Wheeler will be joined by 2012 World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff in the latter’s first GT3 outing in Dubai since 2014.

 

Germany’s GetSpeed (#9), an official Mercedes-AMG customer and a Nürburgring specialist since its foundation in 2013, has confirmed a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for its 24H SERIES debut in Dubai. Former A6-Am class winners Dominik Baumann (2018) and Martin Konrad (2019) will drive alongside Fabian Schiller, the debuting Anthony Bartone, and Oman’s Al Faisal Al Zubair.

 

Austria’s Eastalent Racing Team (#54) meanwhile has entered an Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II for Simon Reicher, the debuting Mike Zhou, Audi factory driver Christopher Haase, and former GT1 World Champion Markus Winkelhock. The latter, winner of the Hankook 24H SEBRING in 2021, finished 2nd overall on his most recent outing in 2020, and 2nd in-class on his first back in 2013.

 

Two-time Le Mans Series champion Proton Huber Competition (#83) rounds out the event’s GT3 newcomers, and has registered a Porsche 992 GT3 R for the debuting Razmik Arayan and Spartak Barsegyan, Vigen Shikhanyan, and Sven Müller, the latter of whom finished 2nd overall at the event in 2018.

 

Last year’s 992-Am class winner Huber Motorsport (#50) has confirmed a standalone Porsche 992 GT3 R, which will be driven by Hans Wehrmann (impressively, a class winner on both of his two most recent 24H SERIES outings), Jason Hart, and newcomer Scott Noble.

 

2019 and 2020 class winner MRS GT-Racing (#17) returns to GT3 at the Hankook 24H DUBAI for the first time since 2013. The German team has entered a Porsche 992 GT3 R for James Winslow, John Corbett and George King (TCX podium finishers in 2021), and Alexander Bukhanstov, who partnered with Winslow and King in GT4 in 2022.

 

Similarly, five-time Hankook 24H DUBAI class winner Dragon Racing (#88) steps up to the GT3 class for the first time in more than a decade with its new Ferrari 296 GT3. The Emirati team joins forces with ROFGO Collection founder Roald Goethe and his sons Benjamin and Oliver (the father-sons trio started their first 24-hour race together last year in Dubai, and won in GT4), four-time class winner Jordan Grogor, and LMGTE-Am World Endurance Champion Stuart Hall.

 

racing one (#6), back for its first 24H SERIES outing since Mugello in 2021, has also registered a Ferrari 296 GT3 for Steffen Görig and Stefan Aust – both 992-Am class winners last year – and series newcomer Luca Ludwig.

 

2019 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion Leipert Motorsport (#63) makes its Dubai return in the GT3 class with a new EVO2 version of its Lamborghini Huracán. Gabriele Rindone (victorious in 992-Am in 2023), debutant Marco Mapelli and Alban Varutti (back for his fifth consecutive Hankook 24H DUBAI) will be joined by Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe champion, Brendon Leitch.

 

Also set to race in Abu Dhabi the previous weekend, Saalocin by Kox Racing (#48) will start its second Hankook 24H DUBAI in 2024 with its Porsche 992 GT3 R, and will run an almost unchanged driver line-up, including team namesake Peter Kox, his daughter Stéphane Kox, Nico Pronk, Dennis Retera, and Tour de France stage winner (and Dubai’s TCE winner in 2020) Tom Boonen.

 

7TSIX (#76) guarantees that Woking will be represented on the Hankook 24H DUBAI grid, as the British team has entered a McLaren 720S GT3 for George Nakas and Fraser Ross for its second run at the event.

 

GT3

 

24H SERIES Middle East Trophy contenders

 

Alongside the overall win at the Hankook 24H DUBAI, at least three teams will be battling for the 2023/2024 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy GT3 Teams’ title as well.

 

CP Racing (#85), which could secure its third consecutive GT3-Am class win in Dubai on 26-27-27 January, started its Middle East campaign strongly with outright victory in Kuwait. The American team will no doubt hope for a similarly strong performance from 2018 Overall GT Drivers’ champions Charles Putman, Charles Espenlaub and Joe Foster, reigning GT3-Am Drivers’ champion Shane Lewis, and 2009 Daytona 24 Hours winner Darren Law in Dubai. This year’s Hankook 24H DUBAI will be Law’s first race since 2019, also with Putman, Espenlaub and Foster, and also as part of the 24H SERIES!

 

Kuwait runner-up Manamauri Energy by Ebimotors (#95), a former Teams’ champion in both ‘991’ and ‘992,’ is just four points behind CP Racing heading into this year’s Hankook 6H ABU DHABI, having finished a staggeringly slim half a second behind the American team in Kuwait. The Romanian-Italian outfit retains its Kuwait and Abu Dhabi line-up, as reigning 992 Drivers’ champions Sabino de Castro and Sergiu Nicolae will partner 2021 991 Drivers’ champion Fabrizio Broggi and Cosimo Papi at the Dubai Autodrome.

 

Century Motorsport meanwhile is just four further points behind Ebimotors in the GT3 Teams’ standings, and has confirmed two BMW M4 GT3s for the 2024 Hankook 24H DUBAI. Looking to return the team to the top step in Dubai for the first time since 2016, Carl Cavers, Lewis Plato and Jack Barlow will be joined by Jake Rattenbury in the first BMW M4 GT3 (#22), while Michael Johnston and Chris Salkeld (who finished 3rd in GT4 last year with Century, Cavers and Plato) will race in the second BMW (#14) with Darren Leung and Sean Gelael. The Indonesian driver finished 3rd overall at last year’s Hankook 24H DUBAI with Team WRT.

 

992

 

24H SERIES Middle East Trophy contenders

 

As in GT3, and at the front of an incredibly strong 19-car class, three teams head into Dubai with 992 Teams’ 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy championship gold in-mind.

 

Red Camel-Jordans.nl (#909), currently at the top of the standings, has taken two class podiums in Dubai since 2019, and will run Breukers father-son trio Ivo, Rik and Luc alongside 2019 Overall TCE Drivers’ ‘Continents’ champion Fabian Danz.

 

One week on from its home six-hour race in Abu Dhabi, and just four points behind Red Camel, RABDAN Motorsport (#971) continues its affiliation with Fulgenzi Racing in Dubai. Team boss Saif Alameri took a class podium on his event debut in 2021, and headlines the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup driver line-up alongside Emirati teammates Salem Alketbi, Helal Almazrouei and Fahad Alzaabi – who all competed at the Hankook 24H DUBAI in 2022 and 2023 – and Austria’s Christopher Zöchling.

 

On its first international motor racing program, KKrämer Racing (#936) is currently 3rd in the 992 standings. Team owner Karsten Krämer will compete for the third event in a row with Michele Di Martino, and the pair will be joined by Denis Remenyako (entering his different third class in three Hankook 24H DUBAI entries) and Fidel Leib, GTX class winner in 2021.

 

992

 

One of the strongest fields yet!

 

2022 992 Teams’ Europe’ champion, and last year’s category runner-up, Red Ant Racing (#903) will also be among the ‘992’ headliners in Dubai. Keen to regain its title, the Belgian team will run 2022 992 Drivers’ ‘Europe’ champions Ayrton and Yannick Redant alongside series debutants Peter Guelinkckx and Jef Machiels.

 

FACH AUTO TECH, which took a commanding 1-2 finish last year, returns to the event with a two-car line-up again for 2024: Paul Meijer, Jop Rappange, Ralph Poppelaars and Huub van Eijndhoven will pilot the Swiss team’s lead Porsche (#962), while Michael Hinderer, Marc Devis, Yves Scemama and Christian Traber will drive alongside Nico Verdonck in the 992-Am-entered 992 GT3 Cup (#961).

 

Fresh from its first Hankook 24H DUBAI class win in 2023, HRT Performance will make its 11th start in the Hankook 24H DUBAI with a three-car line-up in 992-Am. Holger Harmsen and 2022 GTX Drivers’ ‘Continents’ champion Gregg Gorski are confirmed for the first of two standalone entries for the German team (#929), with the other set to be driven by Michael Blanchemain, series returnee Stéphane Adler, Jérôme Da Costa, Franck Lavergne and Franck Eburderie (#930).

 

For the second year in a row, HRT will also run an official entry for the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (‘QMMF by HRT’, #931). Qatari teammates Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi, Ghanim Al Ali and Ibrahim Al Abdulghani will make their second consecutive starts in Dubai alongside Julian Hanses.

 

Similarly, and in addition to its GT3-AM entry, MRS GT-Racing, an event staple for more than a decade, returns with a standalone Porsche for Alexandr Artemyev, Antti Rammo, Nikolai Gadetskii and Alexey Denisov (#989), plus a collaborative entry with the returning Neuhofer Rennsport for Markus and Felix Neuhofer, Helmut Roedig, and Martin Ragginger.

 

24H SERIES staple Bas Koeten Racing, which took consecutive 991 class wins in 2021 and 2022, will also run a multi-car effort in 992-Am: Gijs Bessem and Bob Herber (also victorious in 2021 and 2022) headline the ‘NKPP Racing’ entry (#992) alongside Daan Meijer (winner in 2022) and Dante Rappange, while the distinctive ‘Team Captain America by Bas Koeten Racing’ Porsche (#925) will be driven by Curt Swearingin, Grant Talkie, Richard Edge, Pedro Torres and Kay Van Berlo.

 

Reigning TCR Teams’ champion Holmgaard Motorsport (#902) makes the jump to 992 for the first time in Dubai, doing so with brothers – and 2023 992 Drivers’ ‘Europe’ champions – Magnus and Jonas Holmgaard, and series debutants Patrick Steen Rasmussen, Darren Currie and Axle Donaldson.

 

Last year’s 992-AM Teams’ champion RPM Racing (#907) will also start its title defence in Dubai, with long-time teammates – and reigning 992-Am Drivers’ champions Tracy Krohn, Niclas Jönsson and Philip Hamprecht partnering Patrick Huisman in the UAE.

 

2020 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#927) returns for its 11th entry at the Hankook 24H DUBAI, and its first with a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup. Marlon Menden, who finished on the TCR podium last year, will team with Patrik Grütter – who joined the German team at Dubai and Spa last year – Stefan Beyer and Oleksiy Kikireshko. 

 

PROsport Racing (#901), which won the Overall GT Teams’ championship in 2018 as ‘PROsport Performance,’ also makes its return to the Hankook 24H DUBAI. Keen to secure its first category win at the event, the German squad will team Simon Balcaen and Guillaume Dumarey – who also competed with PROsport in 2022 – with Steven Palette and Jörg Viebahn, the latter of whom took a D1 class win on his event debut back in 2008. 

 

Fresh from its series return at the Hankook 6H ABU DHABI, Prototype Cup Germany frontrunner Mühlner Motorsport (#921) has confirmed a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup for Bryan Sircely and Vladislav Lomko so far. The German team, which finished 3rd overall on its most recent 24H SERIES outing in Portimão in 2020, makes its Hankook 24H DUBAI debut this year.

 

2017 CUP1 Teams’ champion DUWO Racing, a multi-time class podium finisher and 2014 ‘A4’ category winner, will collaborate again with SebLaJoux Racing in the UAE (#910). The latter’s namesake Sebastien Lajoux will lead the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup line-up alongside Lucas Walter, Benjamin Paque, Flynt Schuring, and Stéphane Perrin, the latter of whom took his second overall TCE win at the Hankook 24H DUBAI last year.

 

Series debutant SMP Racing (#937) rounds out the 992 runners, and has confirmed Russian compatriots Denis Remenyako, Aleksandr Bolduev and Alexandr Smolyar will drive with former Formula 1 drivers Sergey Sirotkin and Vitaliy Petrov. The car will be operated by KKrämer Racing.

 

GTX and GT4

 

GTX is set to feature a three-way fight for class honours between a brand-new sports car, a prototype sports car with one class win already under its belt, and a defending series champion.

 

Reigning GTX Teams’ 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy winner razoon – more than racing (#714) took a commanding win at last year’s Hankook 24H DUBAI, and will hope to do so again with Daniel Drexel (also a winner last year), Artur Chwist and Kuwaiti’s Haytham Qarajouli in the KTM X-BOW GTX. Kevin Woods joins the trio for Dubai.

 

Fresh from the car’s competitive debut in Kuwait, the new Vortex ‘2.0’ (#701) will start its first 24-hour race in Dubai with team owners – and brothers – Arnaud and Olivier Gomez alongside team staples Lionel Amrouche and Philippe Bonnel. Significantly, Vortex V8 has finished two of the last three Hankook 24H DUBAIs on the GTX podium.

 

Toro Verde (#795) secured the first win for Ginetta’s developmental G56 Cup in Kuwait, and will look to repeat that accomplishment with the British marque’s CEO Lawrence Tomlinson, his son Freddie, Ginetta works driver Mike Simpson, and Formula E race winner Nico, son-of-four-time-Formula-1-World-Champion-Alain, Prost.

 

Across in GT4, Britain’s Simpson Motorsport (#438) continues its affiliation with the UAE’s AGMC Racing at the Hankook 24H DUBAI, and will look to secure its first event win with Fabian Duffieux, and the debuting Artur Dzhalilov, Ivan Krapivtsev, and Hugo Cook aboard the BMW M4 GT4.

 

Also running a G82-generation BMW M4 GT4 in Dubai, Century Motorsport (#429) has confirmed David Holloway, Piers Johnson, Nick Halstead and New Zealand’s Rianna O’Meara-Hunt. Ironically, the latter will share the grid with America’s The Heart of Racing, with whom she took two GT4 America race wins in her second full season of car racing.

 

Spain’s PCR Sport (#418) returns to the 24H SERIES with its Mercedes-AMG GT4, and is looking to make its maiden Hankook 24H DUBAI start with Keith Gatehouse and Jamie Day.

 

Following its 24H SERIES debut in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s Continental Racing (#496) has entered its Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo for its 24-hour debut in Dubai, and will do so with Vasily Vladykin, Andrey Solukovtsev, David Pogosyan and Mikhail Loboda. This will mark the first time Toyota has been represented at the Hankook 24H DUBAI since 2015.

 

TCR and TCX

 

AC Motorsport (#188) headlines the TCR and TCX entrants in 2024. The Belgian team, which took overall TCE victory at the Hankook 24H DUBAI in 2020 and 2023, has entered its Audi RS 3 LMS TCR for Paul Sieljes, Thierry Chkondali, 2023 TCR Drivers’ runner-up Ivars Vallers, Artur Goroyan (who took TCR victory last year in Abu Dhabi), and British Touring Car legend James Kaye.

 

AC Motorsport’s closest competition will be Simpson Motorsport (#138), which has also entered a standalone Audi RS 3 LMS DSG alongside its BMW M4 GT4. The British team took TCR-class victory in Kuwait, and will hope to do so again in Dubai with series newcomers Andrei Muraveika and Ivan Stanchin, and Nadir Zuhour, who prepares for his 11th entry at the Hankook 24H DUBAI this month.

 

Back for its first Hankook 24H DUBAI since 2020, and its first 24H SERIES entry since last year’s Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Lotus PB Racing (#226) brings the evocative Lotus Elise Cup PB-R back to the Autodrome. The Italian customer of the classic British brand took a double A3 podium in Dubai in 2019, and features an all-Italian driver line-up courtesy of Vito Utzieri, Stefano Moretti, Maurizio Copetti, Emanuele Romani, and team principal, and former World Touring Car Championship race winner, Stefano d'Aste.

 

In an effort to repeat its 2018 class win, former SP3 and TCX Teams’ champion CWS Engineering (#278) will run its now traditional Ginetta G55s for Dale Albutt, Mark Griffiths, Dan Morris and team owner Colin White. The British team is also set to run a second Ginetta (#277) for Morris, Neale Muston and Adam Hayes.

 

In addition to its 992 entry, SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#227) rounds out the TCR and TCX entrants with its Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS. The former outright series champion has taken three class wins in three different categories since 2017, and, fittingly, reunites Benito Tagle and Christoph Krombach – who took TCX victory last year – with long-time ‘Lionspeed GP’ teammates José Garcia and Patrick Kolb, and series newcomer Gero Bauknecht for the 2024 edition.